The Thing About Uchiha
by SpaceNugget11
Summary: 19-year-old Sasuke's biggest problem is figuring out how to tell the girl he likes her. Oh, and he might need to save the world. Again. For the record, he thought saving the world the first two times was a piece of cake compared to this whole romance business…in which our favorite duo sets off in search of weapons of mass destruction and maybe their happy ending—SasuSaku.
1. A Few Problems to Start Things Off

**I. A Few Problems to Start Things Off**

* * *

The room was still dark when Kakashi opened an eye. He glanced at the digital clock on his nightstand next to his bed, and the red numbers announced the time to be 4:12 AM. Something had woken him and now that something was in his house, silently waiting. It was an ambush of the worst kind: business. He groaned, mourning the loss of sleep, and threw an arm over his eyes in defeat.

"Really? You couldn't wait?"

There was no answer, so Kakashi guessed not and pulled his mask over his face and sat up in bed, swinging around to place his bare feet on the cold, wooden floors. It may have been early spring, but while the sun was still down, Old Man Winter was making sure he would not be missed.

"I know you've been gone for a while, Sasuke, but breaking into the Hokage's sleeping quarters is still illegal," Kakashi said while rubbing the crust from his eyes.

"Don't worry, your guards don't know I'm here. You should consider new security detail, by the way, or not have them take up space on your roof like that." The voice said, coming from the shadows across the room. Kakashi wondered why his old student couldn't just knock on his front door like everyone else. Then again, the Uchiha had always been one for the theatrics. He and Naruto were a lot alike in that way, although he knew Sasuke would die a thousand fiery deaths before admitting to such a thing.

"It's protocol." Kakashi felt his joints pop and creak as he stood. Age was not being kind to his body. "Ever consider joining the ANBU?"

"I have better things to do with my time."

"You're right. Being on ANBU sucks. Don't do it."

Kakashi was making his way towards the light switch through the cold darkness of his room when he heard something thud against the ground. It sounded heavy— sort of like a body.

"Sasuke?" He asked.

No answer again, but this time Kakashi doubted it was out of redundancy. Kakashi hit the switch, squinting as the flood of light assaulted his vision. Through his cracked lids he spied a dark mass crumpled on the floor. It was Sasuke.

"Sasuke!" Kakashi was beside him in an instant. He helped his student onto his back while cradling his head with one hand. A sheen of cold sweat drenched the young man's face, and Kakashi thought he looked pale, much paler than usual—chalk white, almost, which was never a good sign, but what really grabbed his attention was the large tear across the front of Sasuke's traveling poncho. A rust of dried blood surrounded the gash, and upon pulling the material over his head, Kakashi confronted a hastily bandaged wound beneath an unbuttoned shirt, the gauze already soaked through with blood.

"You—what happened?"

Sasuke winced as he held out a scroll. "It couldn't wait," he muttered. He was fading fast.

Two masked ANBU guards had appeared in the room.

"Hokage-sama."

Kakashi took the scroll, and Sasuke arms dropped to the floor as his eyes slid shut. From the outside, it would have almost looked like an overdramatic death-scene of some b-rate movie, but Sasuke was still very much alive, though Kakashi wasn't sure if that would last.

"Get Haruno Sakura here now, tell her it's an emergency. She should be working this shift at the hospital, today. And call Naruto over, too. Tell them both that it's Uchiha Sasuke," Kakashi ordered.

They nodded once before vanishing.

Balling up Sasuke's traveling cloak into a makeshift pillow, Kakashi lowered his student's head down upon it. He pulled away part of the gauze and grimaced when he got a peek of what lay underneath; it looked deep, and even he, with his rudimental first-aid training, knew that it was badly infected. Sasuke's chest rose and fell with each frantic breath and the wound continued to weep fresh blood with the movmeent.

Kakashi couldn't believe that there were still people left in this world that could do this sort of damage to the Uchiha. He looked at the scroll in his hands, wondering what was so dire that Sasuke couldn't stop by the hospital first. He unrolled the scroll.

.

.

.

When Sasuke opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the ceiling. A machine beeped steadily in the background, and he smelled antiseptic and latex. He blinked once and raised his arm, noting all the wires and tubes running out of it. His arm flopped back down against the scratchy blanket.

' _Hospital,'_ was his first thought.

He lolled his head to one side. His head felt heavy. Through the bars of the hospital bed, he caught sight of Naruto and Kakashi in conversation. Naruto was turned away from him, but Sasuke could recognize the back of his stupid head anywhere, even if he was doped up on a massive dose of painkillers. Kakashi glanced over at him. A breathing mask covered his face and, finding it bothersome, he reached up to pull it off when a someone gently took his hand away.

Something cool pressed against his forehead—a hand—and Sasuke felt his whole body slacken against the mattress beneath him. He looked up to see Sakura staring down at him with a soft smile. Strands of hair had fallen out of her little ponytail, falling messily around her face. Sasuke thought she looked tired. Naruto's and Kakashi's faces appeared behind her. Naruto laughed and said something, but Sasuke didn't catch it. Probably something stupid.

He closed his eyes and the crushing weight of drugs and exhaustion dragged him down into unconsciousness once more.

.

.

Sakura liked the restaurant Kiba had chosen: Iccho. She had heard Ino raving about it all month, and it was the hot, new hangout spot for Konoha's younger shinobi. The entire establishment was paneled in dark wood, and the red lanterns strung across the ceiling were the only source of light, the atmosphere toeing the line between casual bar and romantic dinner. They were on the third floor, and on the other side of the restaurant, the open windows carried in noise from the streets below and the cool nighttime breeze.

As they sat waiting for their food, Sakura's gaze wandered. She watched a table full of young, red-faced men laughing over some beers, a collection of already empty glasses taking up half their table. It was only nine.

"You're pretty quiet today."

Her attention returned to Kiba. She smiled for him. "Sorry, long day at the hospital."

He propped his face against one hand and swished the ceramic teacup with the other, watching as his drink eddied into a miniature whirlpool.

"Anything interestin' happen?"

"No, not really." Sakura immediately regretted not mentioning Sasuke. "How was your day? Did you end up finding a girlfriend for Akamaru?"

Sakura saw Kiba's nose twitch, the way it did whenever he sensed something was amiss, but he stretched a smile across his face anyways. "Naw, that guy's even pickier than me!" He eyed Sakura slyly. "Though, I gotta say, I do have a good eye for pretty things."

"Ew, gross, you sound like such a creep."

Kiba waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Stop fighting it, Sakura, it'll make falling for me all the more painful in the end."

This time Sakura gave him a genuine laugh, and Kiba grinned back with his wolfish smile. Their food arrived, and as Sakura recounted the rest of her day, Kiba sat back with his arm draped over the booth, watching her, smiling slow and sad.

.

.

.

When Sasuke finally woke, his mouth felt like sandpaper. He could already tell he'd be stiff for the next few days judging by the way his who body screamed in opposition as he struggled to sit up in bed. Just as he was contemplating on ripping out the IV and going home for a glass of water, the door to his room swung opened and an old nurse stepped in. Funny how hospital staff always seemed know when you were planning to escape.

"Ah, Sasuke-kun, you're awake. Please leave your IV in; you are not to be discharged until Sakura-san says so," she said when she caught Sasuke with the IV between his teeth.

Sasuke's arm fell against his lap.

"Now, now, don't look so put out," she said. She went to the machines and began checking his vitals. "You still need to get some rest before you go cavorting about town."

"How long was I out for?"

"Three days. That wound of yours was quite nasty," she continued with her back to him. "Sakura-san spent hours in the surgery room; you were quite lucky. Apparently, it was some new-fangled poison, I hear even your heart stopped for a few—"

The old nurse paused and frowned. She peered closer at the machines. "That's strange, now why would it say it's not getting a clear—" She turned around and sighed when she saw the IV tube hanging freely from its drip. The bed was empty and Sasuke's clothes were gone from the chair, the white curtains billowing as the cold breeze drifted in from the open window.

.

.

.

Kakashi was tired. He had been in the office all day been reading and signing documents. What was the point of getting his left eye restored only to have it ruined by all this fine print? What a terrible waste. He placed the pen down on the desk and flopped against the back of his chair, flexing out the cramp in his fingers.

He was technically the most powerful shinobi in the village, and now the greatest threats to his life were growing nearsighted and getting carpal tunnel.

There was a knock at the door. He sat up and grabbed the pen.

"Come in," he called out, shuffling through a stack of papers so he appeared appropriately occupied.

The door open and Sasuke came through. Kakashi dropped the pen and papers and reclined back into his chair.

"Sasuke, good, you've finally risen from the dead."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry," Kakashi amended. "It was supposed to be a figure of speech, but I guess in your case it's a bit in bad taste. How're you feeling?"

"Like I've slept for three days straight."

"Well, that's because you did."

"I know. Did you see the scroll I gave you?"

Kakashi opened his desk drawer and pulled out the object of their discussion. He placed it atop the mess of paperwork, contemplating it. "I did. Tell me, how sure are that this—" He tapped the scroll with a pointer finger. "—exists?"

"I can't say for certain, but based off what I saw, there's a high probability. I didn't come back just to give you that report; I need to search my clan's archives for more information."

"Am I to assume that wound of yours speaks to how dangerous this thing might be?" Kakashi asked, as he eyed the large tear on the front of Sasuke's poncho.

Sasuke looked down as well. "This—was a careless mistake. There was an old trap in the ruins; the blade had just barely grazed me, but I guess it was poisoned in the end."

"Huh, and I thought your stint with Orochimaru had made you more or less impervious to that sort of stuff."

"Like I said, it was an old trap, I doubt even Orochimaru had the poison in his collection. Besides, I get the feeling I wasn't supposed to last two weeks after getting it into my system," Sasuke replied drily.

"Ah true, Sakura did say that she was impressed by how long you had managed to hold out—something about you being harder to kill than a cockroach."

Sasuke turned to go.

"I'll be leaving in a few weeks again after doing some research."

"Sure, keep me posted; also, Sasuke, next time, get to the hospital first—"

He nodded noncommittally and shut the door behind him.

Kakashi sighed. Now he knew how Sakura felt whenever she gave him an earful about not getting his annual check up. That was karma for you he supposed.

.

.

.

It was early Saturday morning and most of Konoha was still asleep leaving the streets sparsely populated with pedestrians. Sasuke was taking an old route home, but there were few things familiar about it: the old playground had been replaced by a shiny new convenience store, his favorite bakery gone and in it's place sat a gaudy looking tea house, the few storefronts he had passed were all new and unrecognizable. The roads had been widened as well, and some of them had even been laid down with cobblestones that gave the street a sleek, put-together atmosphere, so different from the sleepy village with dirt-roads that lived in his memories. He supposed a lot of it had to do with the post-Pain reconstruction. Sasuke hadn't been there when Pain had literally crushed Konoha, but he had heard stories about it during his travels and about how Uzumaki Naruto, Hero of the Hidden Leaf and Savior of the World, had stopped him with a godly flick of his index finger. Sasuke doubted Naruto's index finger alone was good for anything aside from picking his nose, but he conceded that the battle must have been pretty horrific if the destruction had been extensive enough to warrant this much change in the village.

He had also been gone for a long time, and he reminded himself that it was foolish to think Konoha immune to the passage of time. Things changed and would always change, with or without a madman laying catastrophic waste to the village.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the piece of paper he'd found in his pocket as soon as he had left the hospital.

* * *

 _Sasuke-kun—_

 _I figured you'd leave before you were supposed to, so here's a note._

 _Naruto and I are getting dinner tonight at Ichiraku at 9. It's still in the same place. You should show up since I also have some medication for you and it's kinda important that you take it or else your heart might stop again._

 _Also it would be nice to have a Team 7 dinner again since Naruto's been busy and you've been gone for so long. Rest up and don't over exert yourself or else the raised blood pressure will put too much of a strain on your heart. Did I mention your heart stopped?_

 _Okay, anyways, see you tonight!_

 _\- Sakura_

 _p.s. I have your arm._

* * *

He paused for a moment and gazed up. It was early March and a few branches were beginning to bud with the promise of spring. His body flickered out of view, and he reappeared atop a nearby electrical pole. A gust of wind swept over the jumble of rooftops below, stirring the dust and causing the power lines to sway.

Two winters ago, he had popped back into the village to help Naruto save the world. If it wasn't a shinobi goddess trying to bring about the apocalypse, then it was the moon crashing into the earth. And now, if he didn't figure out exactly how his ancestors had planned on destroying the village, the world might end up being in danger of ending. Again.

He sighed and looked up at the washed out skies while the sunlight grazed weakly against his skin. In the distance, the Hokage Monuments loomed, Kakashi's face carved into the rock as a new addition to the succession. He turned to gaze beyond the main gates where a forest of skeletal trees, stripped bare of their leaves, spread out towards the horizon until they met the snowcapped mountains to the north. With the warming weather, the trees would soon burst back to life and transform into the dense ocean of green that was the village's namesake; Sasuke wondered if he'd be around long enough to see it happen.

He folded up Sakura's letter and replaced it in his pocket. He breathed deeply.

He was home.

.

.

.


	2. Threshold Potential

**II. Threshold Potential**

* * *

Luckily enough for Sasuke, his old neighborhood had avoided Pain's Shinra Tensei by a hairline of exactly two block, and so he still had a home to return to. Even if his apartment building had been squashed in the attack, The Uchiha Compounds had apparently also managed to stay out of harm's way, though Sasuke probably would have rather slept on Naruto's couch than have to return to the place where his darkest memories were pooled.

He reached into the letterbox attached to the front of his apartment, remembering that was where he had dropped off his key before absconding that fateful night so many years ago. They key was where he had left it, and after jiggling the handle a few times, managed to get the door open. He stepped inside slowly, allowing the door to click shut behind him. Morning light flooded in from the windows by the kitchen, and he scanned the space. Even as a boy he had lived a spartan life and aside from a few calligraphy paintings or two on his wall, his home was devoid of any objects that reflected upon him as a person; nothing told of the told thirteen-year-old boy that had once lived here, and though he did prefer austerity to excess, Sasuke almost felt like a stranger in his own home.

It was also surprisingly clean. When he had defeated Kaguya with Naruto three years ago (and lost his arm after that epic fist fight), Sasuke had left the village in such a hurry that he hadn't even bothered stopping by to check up on this place. After six years of neglect he expected a pelt of dust upon his belongings, but there wasn't even a sprinkle of gray on any of the surfaces. Sasuke frowned. In fact, his furniture was actually shining a bit in the sunlight, and he began to pick up on a soapy, lemon scent in the air. Had someone cleaned his house recently? His keen eyes finally spotted the small note lying atop the kitchen countertop. He went over and picked it up to read.

* * *

 _Sasuke-kun—_

 _Sorry for all the notes. Since you've been gone for so long, we decided to tidy up your apartment for you while you were at the hospital. Naruto said your water heater was broken. He told the landlady, and she said she'd have it fixed by the time you get back. Hope you don't mind the intrusion!_

 _-Sakura and Naruto_

* * *

Naruto's name had been crossed out and beneath it was scrawled " **A Being Far Superior to You in Every Possible Way."** Sasuke was impressed; even on paper Naruto managed to sound like a supreme idiot. He wondered how they had gotten in since he didn't recall ever giving either of them a spare key (considering everything back in the day, it would actually have been really weird if he had). He glanced at his window in a deadpan manner; they probably broke in.

He had been traveling for three-and-a-half years in solitude, most of his journeys taking him far from other humans, and within one morning his teammates had managed to invade his personal space without even being there in person. He wasn't overjoyed, but he couldn't say he hated it either. Silent resignation, perhaps.

He checked the clock on his wall. The hands on the face read 10:31, leaving him plenty of time to shower, stretch, and relax before the grand reunion at Ichiraku. Maybe he'd even take a short nap.

In the bathroom, he shucked off his poncho and peeled off his shirt, revealing the mass of bandage spooled around his chest. Pulling up on the taped end, he began unwinding the cloth in front of the mirror. After a few passes, the rest of the wrapping loosened on its own and fell away, exposing a thick, puckered scar. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

For all the blood it had gushed out, he had expected the wound to leave behind something more horrific _—_ ugly stitches, dried crusts of blood, maybe even a bit of bruising. The injury had put him through two weeks of hell, and all he had to show for it was a weak-ass line across his chest. It was all a little anticlimactic, and Sakura was maybe too good at her job. Did he even need a bandage for this thing?

Sasuke poked it and winced. At least it still hurt.

He figured he probably wasn't supposed to get it wet but hopped into the shower anyways because most of his showers the past few months had taken place in rivers whose temperatures had been regulated to stay a nice and toasty forty degrees by the snowmelt and not even the risk of infection could stop him grabbing the shower valve and turning that baby on. Besides,who knew? Maybe a bacterial infection would bring the wound back up to an appropriate level of pus and gore.

After he finished, Sasuke toweled off and pulled on a pair of old sweats and a t-shirt. Taking his pile of traveling clothes, he dumped them unceremoniously into the trash. The torn poncho was unsalvageable and his shirt and pants were caked in so much filth that they were also a lost cause.

As he rubbed a towel through his hair, he considered doing a few stretches, but took one look at his bed and decided to flop onto instead. As soon as his head hit the pillow, exhaustion smothered his thoughts and he was out.

.

.

.

When Sasuke opened his eyes again, the room was dark. For a disorienting second he was confused as to where he was. Then it all came back to him: home. He sat up in bed stiffly, rubbing his eyes as he slowly clawed his way back up to the world of the waking.

Moonlight flooded in from the glass doors to the balcony, spilling across the floor towards his bed. Outside, beyond the balcony rails, he could see lights from the other buildings, brighter and more numerous than he remembered. He stared out slack-jawed, his expression blank. Then his eyes grew wide as realization burst to the surface like a sudden geyser: The dinner! He glanced at the digital clock.

"Shit." He threw off the covers and hastily rolled out of bed. It was already 11:08 PM and he was running late by two hours.

Sasuke rooted through his drawers, looking for something to wear, but everything was either too small or full of holes or too small. After some intensive excavation, he managed to dig up some clothes that used to be a little looser on him...six years years ago. He gave it a go anyways.

"Damn it," he muttered.

The pants were too short and the shirt was too tight. He made a split-second decision and changed back into his sweats and old shirt, figuring it was better to risk looking like a bum than give Naruto more ammunition for his "You Look Like A Girl" jokes.

His hair was still damp from the shower earlier, so he grabbed the towel off the bed and rubbed it furiously against his head, hoping the friction would have at least some drying effect. The days may have been getting warmer, but it was still March and nighttime temperatures often dipped below freezing.

The temperatures may have been rising during the day, but it was still March and nighttime temperatures often dipped below freezing. Sasuke opened his the bedroom door, wondering if any of his sweatshirts would still fit. If he remembered correctly, he kept them all in the closet by—

"Sasuke-kun!"

"Hey asshole."

Sasuke paused at the door's threshold, the towel still at his head while he stared dumbly at the two intruders who were currently sitting at his kitchen table.

He blinked. Sakura waved, Naruto grinned, and Sasuke found his voice. "What're you both doing here?"

Naruto pointed to the crowd of plastic bags on the table between him and Sakura. "Dinner. Hope you're hungry."

"We figured you'd fallen asleep and thought it we could bring you something to eat," Sakura explained.

Letting his towel fall around his neck, Sasuke joined them at the table, sliding into the seat across from Sakura. She beamed at him as she always had since their academy days, and he thought there were at least some things in this world that never changed. He reached over to peek into one of the bags. "Chinese?"

"Sorry, it was the only thing open this late," she apologized.

"Hey, don't go on spoiling him, Sakura-chan, beggars can't be choosers," Naruto said. "If you're going to be a weenie about it, you should've just shown up tonight. Do you know how long we waited for you at Ichiraku? Man, and I was banking on you treating me to some ramen too!"

Sasuke pulled out a white Styrofoam box and popped it open, revealing a mountain of deep fried chicken glimmering beneath a lacquer of soy sauce and cornstarch.

"Sorry, but I kind of died a few days ago, remember?" Sasuke said, not actually apologetic. A rush of saliva flooded his mouth at the prospect of some seriously heavy calories. He wasn't a huge fan of Chinese, but he also hadn't eaten in the past four days. Two weeks if they were counting actual meals. Naruto was right; beggars shouldn't be choosers.

"As long as you take it easy, Sasuke-kun, you should be fine," Sakura said. She broke apart a pair of chopsticks and offered them to him.

"Thanks," Sasuke said and took them from her.

"Oh right, how's that gaping hole in your chest?" Naruto asked. "You should've seen yourself doped up on morphine. It was great. I wish I had my camera with me."

"M'fine," Sasuke managed to grunt, too busy eating to rejoin Naruto's jab at full capacity. He shoveled pieces of chicken into his mouth as fast as the chopsticks would allow. Living on the edge of society for the past few years had condensed his diet to be made of mostly powdered supplements and whatever game he could catch out in the bush. Compared to Rabbit on a Stick, General Tso's Chicken was a Technicolor explosion of flavors. It almost brought tears to is eyes.

"Do you want a fork…er…or a spoon instead…?" Sakura asked as she opened a box of rice and slid it over by Sasuke's elbow. "Might help you eat faster..."

He shook his head no, his mouth too crammed with masticated chicken to be able to give a coherent reply. To be honest, if Sakura and Naruto hadn't been at the table with him, he probably would've just used his hands to smash everything into his mouth. Alas.

Naruto and Sakura meandered back to the earlier conversation they had been having before Sasuke had staggered out of his room, leaving their third teammate alone to eat in peace. They didn't have to wait long, however. Less than two minutes had passed before Sasuke had decimated the food.

"Holy shit," Naruto muttered when he looked over and noticed.

Sasuke wiped his mouth with a napkin in an attempt to keep up appearances. Being on the road for three and half years hadn't turned him into a complete animal. Now that there was enough fuel in his tank to power his brain, he managed to ask, "How long have you two been here for?"

Sakura got up, and went over to the sink to get some water.

Naruto leaned back and folded his arms behind his head. "Eh, we got here, what, like an hour ago? Right Sakura-chan?"

She turned around and passed the glass of water to Sasuke, who took it from her gratefully. Sakura sat back down next to Naruto. "Yeah, maybe around 10?"

Sasuke frowned. He hadn't been the slightest bit aware that they had come in and privately chided himself for letting his guard down.

Naruto propped his face on his hand and narrowed his eyes. "Not that I care, but how exactly did you get your ass kicked? You're like, the strongest ninja in the whole country, right after me."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Please, Naruto, you were the one who was running around like a headless chicken when you first saw him."

"W-what—I—no I wasn't!"

"'Sakura-chan! You gotta do something! Sasuke's not gonna die is he? He can't die! You can't let him die, Sakura-chan!'" Sakura mocked, gesturing wildly with her hands in imitation of their blonde teammate.

"Lies!" Naruto objected, his face turning bright red.

Sakura laughed. "Basically, this guy here," she pinched Naruto's cheeks, "was worried sick about you."

Sasuke deadpanned. "Gross."

"Hey!" Naruto snapped while shaking a fist at him. "If you'd just been more careful, none of this would've happened, asshole!"

Sasuke took a sip of water and ignored him.

"That wound _was_ pretty bad," Sakura said. "You gave us a couple scares in the operating room," she said lightly, but her smile was too tight for it to have been only a joke.

Sasuke studied her, noticing the dark circles beneath her eyes. He wondered how much sleep she was getting, but instead of asking, he said, ""You both know that, historically, the Uchiha's relationship with Konoha had always been...strained."

Sakura and Naruto nodded slowly.

"Well, it seems my predecessors had sealed something away a long time ago—a weapon to use against Konoha."

"What was it?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know, but it was something big—something bad."

"Wait," Sakura cut in. "If you don't even know what is, how do you know it's bad?"

"There's a secret Uchiha outpost in the Wind Country. I found some old scrolls there mentioning a seal."

"Complicated and high level?" Naruto guessed.

"And dangerous. It requires human sacrifices."

"Shit. How many? Like 20 people?"

"A whole village worth of lives just to unseal it."

"Ah man, and I thought we were finally done with the whole End of the World schtick." Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. "How do you know that this thing was even supposed to be used against Konoha?"

"Not sure, but I thought the part in the scroll that said 'in order to destroy the godforsaken Village Hidden in the Leaves' might have been a hint."

"Okay, point. And lemme guess, and you have no idea where exactly this thing is."

"That's why I'm back. I'm hoping the clan archives might have more information."

Naruto scratched his neck. "I still don't get what any of this has to do with that hole in your chest."

Sasuke rubbed his thumb up and down his glass of water. "I tripped a trap."

Naruto gaped. "Wait a sec, are you serious? You almost died because of a trap? A goddamn _booby_ trap? Who are you and what've you done with Uchiha Bastard Sasuke," he demanded, slamming a hand on the table.

"It was one hell of a booby trap. Made by Uchiha, for Uchiha," Sasuke replied dryly.

"I don't get it."

"It means," Sakura said, finally cutting in, "the trap was tailored-made to take down an Uchiha, which _also_ means that since the clan was apparently trying to keep some clan members out, there was probably an opposing faction—Uchiha who were against this 'thing' being used. And where there's an opposing faction, there might be more information on how to stop it, or at least on what this thing exactly is, right?"

Sasuke nodded slowly, unable to hide the small smile on his lips. Okay, so he was a little impressed. He had almost forgotten that Sakura was smarter than the average person— way smarter. Then again, standing next to Naruto could make anyone look like a genius.

"So I'm assuming you won't be staying in the village long?" Naruto asked.

"I'll be here for a few weeks maybe, depending on how the research goes. But I'll have to leave again eventually to find this thing," Sasuke replied, vaguely aware that he was avoiding eye contact with Sakura for reasons he couldn't explain.

"You're always coming and going as you please; what are you, a cat?" Naruto muttered. "Anyways, enough chit-chat," he said and pointed at Sasuke. "The real question is, how long are you gonna go around with just one arm? It won't be a fair fight if I beat you like that."

"One hand is more than enough to take you down, dumbass," Sasuke replied.

" _Goddammit_ —okay, fine, so I walked into that one, but seriously, we need to spar. And by spar, I mean I need to give you a beat down," Naruto said, cracking his knuckles with a devilish grin.

"Come to the hospital tomorrow Sasuke-kun. Afternoons are less busy for me." Sakura then pointed at Naruto. "But no sparring for a week."

Naruto sat up. " _What_?"

Even Sasuke frowned a little.

"Doctor's orders." Sakura glared at her two teammates. "You two have to promise or I'm not giving Sasuke-kun his second arm."

"Are you holding my arm hostage?"

"Isn't there some doctor code that goes against that?" Naruto asked.

"Promise!" Sakura demanded and even Sasuke felt himself squirming a little under her fierce gaze.

"Ugh…promise."

"…promise."

They both said as if they'd just agreed to a root canal, but Sakura knew neither of them would go back on their word. She exhaled loudly, satisfied, and rewarded them with a tired smile. "Good."

.

.

.

The next time Sasuke checked the clock it was past one. Team 7 had whittled away the hours with talk, which really just meant Sasuke and Naruto bickering with Sakura stepping in every so often to referee. At some point they had all migrated into the living room.

Sakura yawned, stretched her arms above her and got off the couch.

"Well," she said, rubbing her eyes. "I better get going—long day tomorrow—today. Shoot. Let's go Naruto."

Naruto, who was lying facedown on the floor, muttered something intelligible.

Sakura stood over him with crossed arms.

"Naruto," she warned.

"Nooooooo," he whined. "It's too cold outside."

Sasuke appeared at Sakura's side and nudged Naruto's head distastefully with his foot. "Hey, get up already."

Naruto swatted Sasuke's leg away and curled tighter into himself, seemingly trying to revert to his amniotic state. "Nobody likes you, go away."

" _Naruto_ ," Sakura said again, her voice loaded with unspoken threats.

The blonde whined unintelligibly.

Sasuke sighed. "Just leave him. Trying to make him leave is probably more trouble than it's worth."

Naruto _had_ fixed his water heater after all, and the shower this morning had been a godsend.

"If you drool on my rug I'm going shave off your hair with chidori," Sasuke threatened.

Naruto responded with a snore.

"Well…if you're sure…" Sakura said.

She followed Sasuke to the door, grabbing her coat along the way.

"It's Naruto, not a convict," Sasuke pointed out and opened the door for her. "Actually, a convict would've probably been easier to deal with."

Sakura laughed. "True," she said, slipping into her coat and taking a step outside. "Well, thanks for—"

Sasuke placed his hand on her shoulder to hold her back. "Wait," he said before letting go.

Sakura turned around to see him pulling a sweatshirt from the small closet next to the entry way wriggle into it. He stepped into some sneakers by the door and hit the lights to his apartment before stepping out next to her. He shut the door behind them. A beat of silence hung in the air as they stood side by side in the frozen darkness, their breaths curling out of their mouths like pale smoke beneath the moonlight.

Sasuke pulled the hood over his head and shoved his hand into the sweatshirt's pocket. "Let's go. It's freezing."

"What?"

Sasuke turned around to look at his teammate. "Aren't you headed home?"

"Uhm…yeah…" Sakura was confused. "Do you need to go somewhere too?"

They stared at each other for a long moment. Sasuke was naturally poker-faced, but Sakura saw an uncharacteristic rainbow of emotions play across his features: first disbelief, then puzzlement, then disbelief again, until it finally settled on irritation.

He brushed past her, heading for the stairwell at a brisk pace.

"Wait! Sasuke-kun, where're you going? It's late —"

"I'm taking you home," he shouted, directing his answer at the night sky.

"Oh," Sakura said, letting it all sink in. She then hurried to catch up to Sasuke's longer strides, his footsteps already clanging out on the metal staircase. Thankfully he had slowed down a bit, and by the time they reached the bottom, Sakura was just a step behind him. "But I live far away! Are you sure it's okay?"

He was planning on ignoring the question when she suddenly stopped him by the arm. "Ah! Hold on, I almost forgot!" She reached into her coat and held out a crumpled paper bag. Sasuke took it from her and peeked inside, curious. Cookies?

"It's your medication-antibiotics. Take one from the red lid in the morning and one from the blue lid in the evening starting tomorrow for the next thirty days," she instructed.

Sasuke looked up from the bag and at her. He couldn't even keep a houseplant plant alive for that long.

"Sasuke-kun, _please,"_ she said— pleaded, really. "Your heart stopped a few times, your blood vessels were wrecked— I did the best I could, but you're going to need all the help you can get."

Sasuke wanted to tell her that he was fine and she needed to stop worrying, but beneath the streetlamp's harsh lighting the exhaustion on her face appeared more pronounced—her cheekbones gaunter, her skin more pallid — so Sasuke bit back his words and nodded instead. He stashed the paper bag away his sweatshirt pocket, knowing it would make her happy.

"Thanks," she said.

For the second time that night, Saksuke wanted to ask her how much sleep she'd been getting, but the question in his head refused to form on his tongue. Instead, he said, "I figured taking two pills a day was infinitely more desirable than having my jaw punched out."

"Don't worry, I would've fixed it for you afterwards," she said, her smile was a little _too_ sweet considering her words.

They started walking again, the soles of their shoes scraping against the dirt road. It was late, the roads were empty, and the street lamps buzzed overhead.

"Hasn't anyone called you out yet for abusing your power?" Sasuke asked.

Beside him, Sakura cracked her knuckles. "Nope."

"You've grown to be quite terrifying," Sasuke observed.

"Thank you, I'll take that as a compliment," Sakura said, the corners of her lips curling up into a self-satisfied grin. "Speaking of growing, you've grown quite a bit too." She placed a hand over the top of her head and brought it across to him. It hit him at the shoulder. "Huh, between you and Naruto, I wonder who's taller now."

"Me." His reply was immediate.

Sakura snorted. _Men_.

They rounded a corner and halted.

"Kiba!" Sakura said, surprised.

"Sakura—oh, hey Sasuke!" Kiba raised a hand in friendly greeting.

Sasuke nodded in response. He wondered what the young man was doing out so late. Maybe walking Akamaru? But the giant dog was nowhere in sight.

"What're you doing here?" Sakura asked.

Hearing the tone of her voice, Sasuke's gaze slipped down towards her. She seemed strangely tense. His attention flicked up to study Kiba.

Kiba frowned, puzzled. "I'm here to walk you home. You said you'd be done around one right?"

"Right…right, I just didn't expect…" Sakura's lips pressed together into a hard line, a storm of thoughts raging behind her green eyes.

"…Sakura, you okay?" He glanced at Sasuke again and something seemed to click behind his gaze. "Uh…do you want me to just go home? If Sasuke's taking you back that's fine too…"

"No, no, no—that's not it—I Just—"

Sakura pressed the palm of her hands against her eyes and exhaled. When she lowered her arms, her gaze was steady once more.

"Sorry," she apologized and fixed a small smile on her face. "I'm little worn down. Thanks for coming Kiba, I was just a little surprised that's all."

She turned and circled her arms around Sasuke's waist, giving him a quick squeeze.

"It was good seeing you, Sasuke-kun. Thanks for having us over and coming out all this way," Sakura said and let go just before he had the chance to pat her awkwardly on the back.

"Remember, tomorrow afternoon at the hospital. I'll let the front desk know, just tell them you're looking for me."

Sasuke dipped his head once, but Sakura was too busy avoiding his eyes to see. She hurried over to Kiba, who caught her shoulders beneath his arm and spun them around to leave.

Kiba looked behind him and raised his free arm. "'Night Sasuke, it's good to have you back, buddy."

Sasuke gave no indication he had heard him. Kiba's gaze lingered on the Uchiha, who stood rooted to the spot, watching them leave with a face like granite. Finally, Kiba pulled his gaze away to look ahead.

"Hey," he said, giving Sakura a quick squeeze to get her attention once they were far enough away.

"Hmmm?"

"Is Sasuke all right?"

"Well, his circulatory system did get trashed; that poison put his body through the ringer. And he's still missing an arm."

"I mean, he's…uh…better now, right?"

"If he takes the medication I gave him and doesn't exert himself for a few weeks like I told him to, he should be fine."

Kiba sighed against her. "Never mind."

"Wait, that wasn't your question?"

He chuckled. "Sort of, no. Actually, more importantly, are you okay?"

Sakura paused. The sudden gentleness of Kiba's voice had inundated the question with a host of different meanings and she was unsure of how to respond. Sensing her hesitation, Kiba's arm politely slipped off of her shoulder. A wave of self-loathing suddenly swept through her.

"Yeah," she murmured. "I'm fine."

"Good." Kiba mussed her hair playfully, but let his arm fall to his side. Sakura's self-hatred intensified.

.

.

Sasuke stepped into his apartment shivering. He shut the door behind him and leaned heavily against it. From somewhere in the darkness, Naruto snores rumbled out like a seismic activity. Kicking off his shoes, Sasuke grabbed the spare blanket out of the closet and navigated the dim apartment towards the living room where he found Naruto passed out on the rug, a stream of drool trickling out the corner of his mouth.

"Damn it, Naruto," he muttered as he held up one corner of the blanket and let it unfurl towards the floor. For a second he considered smothering Naruto alive with it. His days as the antagonist were supposed to be long behind him, but the blonde had a way of trying one's

soul.

Eventually, he conceded to his better half and just threw the blanket over his sleeping friend, deciding he'd get even another day, already formulating a strategy for accidentally grazing Naruto's hairline with chidori the next time they sparred.

Sasuke paused at the threshold of his bedroom, sensing a shift in the air. It had grown quiet.

"You're back early," Naruto's voice came groggily from the floor. "What happened to walking Sakura-chan home?"

"We ran into Kiba. He took her back."

Sasuke heard joints snap and pop as Naruto slowly stood up, and then a muffled thump as he threw himself onto the couch. Naruto yawned loudly.

"Y'know, they're only dating. It's not official or anything."

"And why should I care?" Sasuke's voice had dropped a few degrees in temperature.

"Just thought you'd wanna kn—"

Sasuke shut the door to his room before Naruto could finish. The blonde sighed and folded his arms behind head, staring up at the ceiling.

"Sheesh, it's not like it's my fault," he grumbled.

.

.

.


	3. The Strange and New

III. The New and Strange

* * *

Sasuke woke to sunlight gushing through the windows. Judging by its amount and intensity, he suspected he had slept in, and his clock, reading 10:21 AM, corroborated this. Normally he'd be awake five hours ago, but getting up was relatively easy when you were sleeping outside on a cover of loose rocks and sometimes scorpions. Whenever his travels had taken him through a forest, moss had always presented itself as a more comfortable alternative, though the downside being it was often a breeding ground for creepy crawlies; once he had woken to a giant centipede the size of a squirrel resting on his chest, another time, it was a spider the size of his hand on his face. He may have let loose a chidori or five both times. Compared to all the "roughing it" he had done over the past few years, sleeping with a mattress beneath him was just short of coma inducing.

Rubbing the sleep from his eye, he pondered the ceiling while making a checklist of the things he had to do today: groceries, new clothes, hospital. He kicked himself out of bed, emerging from his bedroom yawning hugely and stretching his arms over his head. The couch in the living room was empty, and he realized his annoying houseguest was gone. The blanket he had lent Naruto was left folded in an unexpected display of good manners, and a new note awaited him on the coffee table. Sasuke went over and picked it up to read:

* * *

Had to leave early for a mission brief.

Stop being a terrible host and get some food for the fridge, asshole.

* * *

Sasuke paid his respects to Nartuo's advice by crumbling up the scrap of paper and tossing it in the trash. Pulling on the sweatshirt from last night over his sleepwear, he grabbed his keys, ticked off his to-do list one more time—groceries, clothes, hospital—and headed out, cutting a straight path down smaller roads, alleyways, and sometimes rooftops as he headed for the market district. Sasuke didn't mind walking, and he usually wouldn't have minded a casual stroll through the neighborhood, however domestic upkeep sat pretty far down on the list of things he enjoyed doing. From his point of view, every second he wasted waiting in line was another second that could have gone towards training or reading or some sort of self-cultivation. He already had a late start to his morning and hoped to squeeze in some training before heading down to the hospital to meet Sakura, who had left with Kiba last night.

Wait, that last bit was irrelevant.

Okay, it's just that Sasuke couldn't even remember Sakura talking to the dog-boy when they were kids. Granted, Sasuke _had_ been gone for over half a decade, and a lot could've happened in his absence. Things change, he reminded himself, and maybe sometimes people spoke to each other and then asked each other out.

He then waved off the rest of those thoughts like a bothersome swarm of gnats. Right now, he had a slew of errands to attend to, and if he was to go about doing them as efficiently as possible, he couldn't afford to be squandering his thoughts on Sakura's dating life.

He yanked the hood of his sweater over his head before leaping up onto the rooftops with unnecessary strength. A few of the ceramic shingles cracked and crumbled away beneath the force of his landing. Ignoring this senseless act of vandalism, he sped across the roof's spine, his buzzing irritation driving him to go faster and faster until he was blitzing over the village at full throttle like a bullet in sweatpants, leaving damaged roofing (and later, upset homeowners) in his wake. At high speed the already-brisk air stung like needles against his skin, but the cold pouring over him couldn't touch what felt like hot iron bands clamped around his chest. He grit his teeth.

.

.

.

As it turned out, running errands wasn't as awful as Sasuke remembered it to be. It was much worse.

He skidded to a stop at the edge of the shopping district, plumes of white vapor trailing from his open mouth as he tried catching his breath and considered the view before him. What had once been a dirt road bordered by a row of small, family owned shops had ballooned out into a wide avenue paved with flagstones and bordered by multi-storied shops and cafes. The familiar wooden signs were gone, replaced by back-lit monstrosities proclaiming names and brands he had never of, some of them even flashing in a crazed beat of neon lights as they vied for his attention.

Crowds of shoppers in coats and scarves bustled past him, the cold air humming with the clamor of their voices and footsteps. Shopping bags rustled. A group of girls passing by laughed amongst each other. During the short time he'd been back, Sasuke had a vague idea that Konoha had undergone a transformation, but the extent of change had not been impressed upon him this moment. He blinked hard, feeling dazed; a hesitant expression on his face, standing as he was at the edge of a strange, new world.

After a bit of walking around and peering suspiciously through windows, Sasuke finally decided to give one of the stores a chance. The automatic doors opened with a high-tech zip, and a wall of techno music slammed into him, pounding out a painful beat against his breastplate.

A girl with purple streaks in her hair looked up from where she was folding clothes on the counter. "Welcome!" She screamed over the song blaring on the speakers. Sasuke turned around and left before even stepping through the threshold.

His experiences at other stores weren't much better: at one shop, a legion of employees descended upon him with flyers regarding something called a "promo"; at another, a young man pursued him fanatically around the store and kept asking if he "needed any assistance"; and at yet another, he had almost asphyxiated in a gas chamber of perfume. Shopping for clothes had officially become even more treacherous than infiltrating enemy lines.

After an hour and a half of searching and dodging aggressively friendly store employees, Sasuke finally managed to secure a bagful of new outfits that weren't purposely riddled with holes or armored in sequins ("This season's hottest looks!" explained one poster in a store). He spent another half hour trying to figure out where the hell they had moved the grocery store (it was in the basement of some fancy new department store), and another hour trying to actually buy his groceries while avoiding getting t-boned by housewives who propelled their shopping carts through the store like battering rams.

By the time Sasuke stumbled back home from the warfront, it was almost two. He threw his groceries into his fridge without bothering to take them out of the bag and jumped into the shower. After changing to a fresh set of newly bought clothes, he washed a tomato in the sink and sunk his teeth into it as he pushed past his front door, this time aiming for the hospital with his hair still damp and sticking to his temples like strokes of wet paint.

.

.

.

"Ah, Uchiha-san, yes? Sakura-san's office is down that way through those doors, hallway B, room 225B, upstairs, take a left, end of the hall, to your right," the young man at the Hospital front desk directed.

Sasuke blinked once and he had it memorized. "Shouldn't I sign in?" He asked trying not to breathe too deeply; he had never been crazy about the hospital's trademark scent of latex and disinfectant. He shifted his weight as he took another quick glance around the waiting room: rows and rows of chairs, most of them taken, took up the floor space behind him A few potted trees had been placed in the corners in a well-meaning attempt to liven up the room, but their stunted forms seemed to underscore rather than mask the morose atmosphere.

The phone in front of the clerk rang and the man went to pick it up. "No, no she told us you were coming—Hello? Ah yes? I'm sorry, no." He silently urged Sasuke on with a _shoo_ - _shoo_ of his hands, so Sasuke complied and made his way through the double doors and into a corridor plastered in gray linoleum flooring. Old people and sick people in hospital gowns crept along the walls while they pushed their wheeled IV drip stands, their already pallid complexion worsened by harsh fluorescent lighting overhead. Stone-faced nurses in blue scrubs bustled past him without a second glance, and Sasuke got the sense this place was somehow meaner than he had remembered it, though, to be fair, he was only ever at the hospital when he was banging against death's door, so maybe he was projecting a little.

He found room 225B without much effort. As the clerk at the front had promised, it was tucked away in the corner at the end of the second floor. The door was propped wide open and he stepped in without knocking. The air inside was markedly colder and crisper than that of the hallway, owning to the large window that had been cracked ajar towards the frozen March skies.

Adjacent to the window, a desk was pushed up against the wall. A mass of papers and files littered the surface of the desk, and on top of the debris lay Sakura's head pillowed on top of her folded arms, her shoulders rising and falling in slow and measured beats, coinciding with the expansion and contraction of her lungs. Her head was turned away from him, but Sasuke didn't have to see her face to know she was a sleep. It was so quiet in the room that he could hear the wind whistling through the crack in the window and the steady hush of Sakura's breath as she drifted through that dark ocean, worlds away from where he stood.

Sasuke cycled through his options (leave, wake her, or wait), but before he could settle on the proper course of action, she stirred, the waves boring her back to him until she finally crashed back onto the shores of the waking. She slowly lifted herself off the desk.

"You're here," she croaked, without even turning to look at him. She threw herself back into her chair and stretched her arms above her, yawning hugely and Sasuke suddenly thought of sunflowers in bloom.

"I can leave if it's a bad time," he said, already shifting his weight towards the door.

"Oh! No, no, no," she said waving her hands frantically in front of her face to make sure he understood, "I just dozed off a for a bit. This is actually a really good time—the perfect time. Here—" She stood up and made her way to the examination table behind her desk. She patted the cushion while keeping one hand in the pocket of her white coat. "Take a seat."

Sasuke didn't move as he studied her. She was understandably still tired after waking from a nap, but Sasuke thought her exhaustion ran deeper, rooted in something more systemic. His sharp eyes mapped out the roads of angry red veins in her eyes and the heavy bags beneath them that had been present since yesterday and probably much longer than that.

Sakura's smile contracted beneath the press of his stare.

"Something wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing," he said and strode over to sit as she had directed.

"Your hair's still wet," she observed, and Sasuke allowed her to reach over and hold a bit of it between her fingers. She let go and smiled delightedly. "Ah, it's frozen!"

"I didn't have time to dry it," he explained, rubbing his hands through his brittle hair to try and loosen them out of their frosted chunks.

"You know that damages your hair follicles? Think of all the split ends you'll have, the horror!"

"The horror," Sasuke agreed, though he sounded more sarcastic than aghast. "Shouldn't I be more worried about catching a cold?"

"That's a bunch of bull. You could stand outside in a blizzard in your underwear and never catch the sniffles. The only things you'd be at risk for is frostbite and hypothermia. Anyways," she said clapping her hands together to punctuate the end of a topic and the beginning of a new one, "take your shirt off." Maybe six years ago he would have refused if Sakura had asked while blushing, but this Sakura was all business and no-nonsense, and so he found himself automatically obeying without a chance to think it over.

"I'm just going to check some of your vitals," she explained while plugging into her stethoscope. Sasuke just nodded, keeping his eyes fixed on her desk, sensing the air around his bare chest tremor as she stepped into his personal space. He expected the touch of the stethoscope's metallic cold and was surprised instead by the light graze of her fingertips. "Mmm, looks like this is healing well," she murmured to herself.

"What?" He looked down and his gaze collided into her sea-glass eyes. He flinched and his own eyes darted away, back to the table, but it was too late—the damage was done and his heart hammered away at his chest like a jackhammer.

"Your wound," she explained. She was so close he could almost feel her words moving against him as she spoke. "It's healing nicely." And then she pressed the stethoscope to his chest, belatedly warning him, "this is going to be cold."

Sasuke hoped his heartbeat didn't sound as booming and frantic to her ears as it did in his. After a small eternity, Sakura finally pulled away from him with a small frown.

"Well, everything sounds fine, but your heart's beating a little fast. It might be a small side-effect of the medication." She raised a questioning eyebrow at him. "You _have_ been taking them right?"

"I took some this morning," he lied without blinking. Actually, he had completely forgotten about the pills until that moment, but Sakura was none the wiser so she nodded, pleased. "Good, if you forget a dose, things could get ugly, from a medical perspective, I mean."

His dark eyes cut to her. "Ugly?"

"Oh you know," she said breezily, "massive internal bleeding, cardiac arrest, hemorrhagic stroke, and so on. But you shouldn't have any worries since you've been taking the medicine like I directed, right, Sasuke-kun?" She smiled at him brightly.

"Uh—"

"Great, and now for your new arm!" She went back over to her desk while Sasuke remained seated with a stricken expression, suddenly paranoid that his heart might give out any second now. His fears of a heart attack were quickly chucked aside when he saw Sakura yank open her bottom drawer, reach in, and pull out an _arm_.

She turned to face him and waved it in the air triumphantly, its fingers flopping flaccidly about as dismembered limbs were usually wont to do. "Ta-dah!"

Sasuke could only stare at the scene of horror before him. "What the hell is that?"

"Uhm, it's your arm? This is why you're here isn't it?" She asked as she wagged the limb in his direction. Sasuke wondered if he should be insulted that she was treating his body part in such a cavalier manner.

"You just pulled that thing out of a drawer."

"So?"

"Shouldn't it have been it in an icebox or something?" Actually, Sasuke had no idea where Sakura was supposed to be keeping his new arm, but he was pretty sure there was some sort of regulation against keeping limbs with one's file hangers.

"Relax, relax," Sakura assured him as she made her way back to him, and it took all the discipline Sasuke had to not scoot away from her. "It's not actually flesh, though it's a pretty good imitation, right?" She held it out with one hand and poked it. The white surface indented slightly beneath her fingertips and sprang back up as soon as she removed her hand. "We grew them out of Hashirama-sama's cells, but it behaves more like an inorganic compound than a biological one—it doesn't rot."

Sasuke gave it a dubious prod with his own finger. It was blanched of color, felt like rubber, and hit all the right notes on the creepy scale; no wonder Naruto kept his bandaged.

"All right," Sakura said, "so before I attach this, I'm going to need your help. Could you pool some of your chakra to the bottom of your left arm—er stump? Great, all right, so right when I attach this, I want you to force out as much chakra as you can into the prosthetic. There's already a chakra circulatory system present in this thing, but you're going to need to activate it to have it link up with your own chakra system. Okay on the count of three—one, two—oh yeah, it might sting a little when I cut you open—three!" Sakura touched Sasuke's stump with a glowing hand, slicing off the skin to expose the network of nerve and blood vessels underneath before pressing the prosthetic against it. Sasuke grunted in a mixture of pain and surprise, but Sakura had executed the procedure so quickly that he wound didn't even have the chance to bleed.

The artificial arm attached itself seamlessly to Sasuke's flesh, and as he poured his Chakra into it, he felt the arm throb, life coursing through it like a torrent of water rushing unhindered through an empty river bed. Sasuke held up the arm to his face and wiggled his new fingers.

"Perfect!" Sakura chirped. "Although, I think it'll take a while for your nerves fully to connect." She held up her hand, palm outwards, and Sasuke placed the prosthetic against hers. "Feel anything?" She asked.

"No."

"Mmm, well I suppose that's to be expected," she said, pulling her hand away. "Give it a few days. You can put on your shirt now. Come back immediately if your body shows any sign of rejecting the arm."

"How will I know if my body's rejecting it?"

"Trust me, you'll know," she assured him and walked him to the doorway. She leaned against the frame as she bid him farewell. "What're you doing for the rest of the day, going into your clan archives?" She guessed.

"No, tomorrow," he said while staring down at his hand, opening and closing it into a fist.

"Naruto should be finished with his visit to the Academy by late afternoon. You should try and meet up with him for dinner."

"How about you?"

"Ah…well, I have plans with Kiba tonight."

"I see."

They both stood silent, their insides twisting into uncomfortable shapes. When Sasuke finally realized that things weren't going to get any better any time soon, he dipped his head in a slight nod.

"Try and get some rest," he managed before turning around to make his escape. He thought she might have said his name, but instead of slowing down to check, he picked up his pace and disappeared around the corner, leaving Sakura standing alone in the doorframe, quietly staring down the empty corridor.

.

.

.

Sasuke headed straight for the training fields, coming across an unoccupied stretch of dead grass still brown and leeched of color. He shucked off his sweatshirt and tossed it to the ground, the T-shirt beneath exposing his skin to the bitter cold. His boots rasped against the dry blades of grass as he slid into the stance for the 54 steps kata. He closed his eyes. For a moment he stood frozen as the sky arced over him in a loud, yell of blue. A passing breeze wandered through his hair, the dark strands swaying like grass beneath the waves. The world continued to spin on beneath his feet, but still, he did not move.

He inhaled, then exhaled a large cloud of white vapor. His eyes reopened and he came to life.

.

.

.

When Sasuke finally returned home, the sun had plummeted below the horizon, taking the temperature down along with it. Also, he had discovered an annoying stray had found it's way back to the front of his apartment. It was blonde and slow-witted and no matter what Sasuke did, he couldn't seem shake the damn thing off.

"Yo!" Naruto greeted cheerfully from where he squatted. "You wanna get dinner?"

Sasuke ignored him and shoved his key into the lock.

Naruto stood up. "Uh—nice to see your ugly mug, too?"

"I'm not hungry—" Sasuke began, but before he could slip into his apartment and lock the door on the blonde, Naruto slammed it shut and leaned his shoulder heavily against it. He crossed his arms and mirrored Sasuke's scowl.

"Jeez, what's got your panties in a bunch?"

"Move," Sasuke demanded. "Now."

Naruto dropped his gaze towards Sasuke's new arm before lifting it back up to consider him with blue eyes full of clarity.

"You see, Sakura-chan today?" He guessed.

"I said _move,_ " Sasuke snarled with a viciousness that surprised even him. Instead of apologizing, however, he grabbed his friend by the shoulder and roughly pried him out of the way, twisting the door handle to let himself in. If only it had been that simple. He managed to crack the door open before Naruto once again appeared and barred it shut with his body.

"Nuh- _uh_ , no way, I've been waiting outside your goddamn apartment for almost an hour. You can go be emo some other night. We're going to Ichiraku, and you're going to treat me to all the ramen I want, you jerk."

Sasuke's hand clenched into fist, prepared to give Naruto a black eye for being such an annoying dick, but the blonde was faster. His hands wove a blur of seals before he placed it against the stucco wall. Sasuke recognized the pattern as a summoning jutsu, but by then it was too late. A burst of smoke engulfed the area, and before Sasuke could ask Naruto what the hell he was doing, a frog the size of a small bus appeared before him and swallowed him whole.

.

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End file.
